Park tree removals spark pushback

The City of Vancouver’s plan to cut down nearly onethird of the trees in Stanley Park in response to wildfire concerns and a looper moth infestation is facing intense pushback from local residents and experts.

“There’s just no basis in logic or science for the premise upon which this entire operation is founded, which is that there’s some kind of imminent fire danger,” said Michael Caditz of the non-profit Stanley Park Preservation Society, which has created a petition opposing the plan that has collected over 15,000 signatures since Feb. 8.

“The parks board made a decision to embark on a program to cut down, by their estimate, about 160,000 trees in Stanley Park,” Caditz said. “Their justification for that was that there was an emergency which was an imminent fire danger and they had no choice but to proceed without any delays. Without any public consultation. Without any hearings.”

“All these young trees that they plant are going to be the same age. And they’re gonna take decades for those trees to mature,” he said.

Nearly one-quarter of the roughly half-a-million trees in Stanley Park have been affected by the outbreak of looper moths.

The brown-coloured looper moths start appearing in early September to October. Looper larvae feed voraciously on the needles of hemlock. They also target other conifers such as Douglas fir and western red cedar. Defoliation of new and old growth by looper larvae can kill a hemlock tree in a year.

Brennan Bastyovanszky, chairman of the park board, said the city has the “full intention” of replanting but will do so with Douglas fir and red cedar. He said fir and cedar trees are more resilient to fire and less susceptible to the cyclical looper moth outbreaks, which happen every 15 years or so.

He said the tree removal is essential to restarting the forest afresh and giving it the strongest chance of withstanding future threats to its health.